THE 2001 SEASON AT THE HALFWAY POINT

The Flow's Top Five Stories of the Year (and some other stuff.)

1. The Mariners. 2. The New Strike Zone. 3. Barry Bonds. 4. The Little Champs. 5. Ichiro and The Asian Influx.

1. THE MARINERS. Going in, the M's looked like a good team that would vie with the A's for the AL West. There was a little buzz about some newcomer from Japan, but hey, who was going to make up for A-Rod, especially after losing Griffey and Johnson the previous two years? The core of the team was solid enough: the venerable hit man, Edgar Martinez and the smooth-fielding, line-drive hitting John Olerud, plus reliable major leaguers like Bret Boone, David Bell, the versatile Mark McLemore, and Griffey's replacement Mike Cameron, who had a credible 2000.

Who knew that Boone would finally have the break out year people had been waiting on his entire career--and then some. Hitting .328,21, 80 halfway through the year, people were comparing the son of Bob Boone and the grandson of Ray to Charlie Gerhinger and Rogers Hornsby as a slugging second sacker for the ages. Olerud and Cameron both were on track to drive in 100-plus runs, and Edgar drove in 63 runs. The big surprise, of course, was that guy from Japan: Ichiro Suzuki, who captured the fans of two nations with his skillful play and mellow personality. The 7-time Japanese batting champ might have an American one in his first season. He was hitting .350 at the midpoint, and with 70 runs scored was a great leadoff man.

Very impressive, but the M's division rivals in Texas were hitting .270 as a team, with 442 runs compared to the M's 485 and -- the Rangers' led the AL with 126 homers. The Mariners 60-21 record halfway through the year was obviously not accomplished by hitting alone. Even though Aaron Sele has won 54 games the last three years, for some reason he is still considered a second-rate pitcher. Maybe his 8-1start in 2001 will convince some people. Freddy Garcia has emerged as the ace, with his 9-1 record, and steady veteran Jamie Moyer (5 straight 13+ seasons) is 9-3. Even Paul Abbott is 7-2 and fifth starter, John Halama, 6-5. Jeff Neslon and Arthur Rhodes are excellent middle relievers, while Kazuhiro Sasaki leads the bigs with 28 saves.

There are all kinds of comparisons of the M's to the great teams of the past, but my feeling is that the season is only half way over, so let's wait and see. Their most impressive stat may be that the M's have a better road record (32-9) than any other club has a home record.

2. THE STRIKE ZONE. Actually, it is the old zone, they are just calling it as it is supposed to be called, which is a feat in itself, because Selig and the owners are as full of hot air threats and promises as their counterparts in D.C. The umps are indeed sticking to it, with some interesting results. While weight-lifting sluggers are still hitting plenty of homers and creating high-scoring games, pitchers are starting to even the playing field and we aren't having a ridiculous amount of run-away games this year.

Let's compare the numbers. Batting Average: The AL is hitting .267, compared to .276 last year. The NL is at .262, down from .266. The new zone also reflects in On Base %, down in the AL from .349 to .335, the NL from .342 to .333. Slugging avg. has taken a big bite, too: the AL is slugging .428, down 15 points from last year, while the NL has had a more modest drop, from .432 to .428. Interestingly enough, the AL has 1,242 home runs, roughly on pace to give them 2,484. (We say roughly because not all teams have played exactly 81 games, half of a year's 162.) The NL, however, has 1,517 homers, which doubled comes out to 3,034, slightly above last year's 3,005. That's not all due to Bonds. Finally, the composite AL ERA is down dramatically, from 4.91 to 4.52, while the NL has dropped it's ERA from 4.63 to 4.44.

3. BARRY BONDS. Even though he hit a slight homer drought the week before we hit the halfway point, he still had 39 homers in his first 81 games, a record, and on track for 78 for the season. Bonds was tense and irritable before he hit his 500th homer on April 17 then began relaxing and hit an incredible 21 homers in 28 games. Bonds was probably the best player of the '90s, Griffey being the only one even close. In home runs, he has never been in Big Mac, Sammy Sosa, or even Griffey (who has hit 56 homers twice) territory, his career best being 49. Like Henry Aaron, though, Bonds is consistent with the long flies, having hit 33 or more homers in each of the last 10 years.

Will he break McGwire's 1998 record of 70? Probably not. Bonds responds, "I don't want (McGwire's) record. I want his (World Series) ring. Well, I don't want his ring. I want my own." The Giants, unlike the '98 Redbirds, are in the pennant race. That means down the stretch, if they remain in contention, he will get even fewer good pitches to hit. He already has 78 walks. The best thing about his homer barrage is that people are remembering what a great player he has been, and still is. At 36 he may well win his 4th MVP Award. While he is never going to win the Mr. Congeniality Award, it seems to this writer that his so-called petulance is more of an act than anything else, designed to keep the press at bay. The way many reporters twist quotes around, it's hard to blame a star of Bond's magnitude -- and reputation, much of it designed by the media -- for feeling that way. Ironically, the big losers in the whole drama may be the Giants, who are unlikely to shell out the $100 million for 4 years it will probably take to get Bonds in free agency this winter. Last year his agent tried to ink a pact for $68 million for 4 years and the Giants wouldn't do it.

Are we going to see all three of these clubs in the post season? Is there even a remote chance that the Cubs and Red Sox, neither of whom has won a World Series since World War I, will face each other in the World Series, thus assuring that one of them will finally break the 80 plus year drought? Sure, why not? However, I don't see them all making it. The Braves keep gnawing away at the Phillies lead after a slow start, and are already making their famous mid-season deals, having acquired Ken Caminiti this week (he went 3 for 4 in his first start.) Likewise, the see-saw battle between the Twins and the Indians will continue and the Indians, who have several aging players and a few key ones up for free agency, may have their final chance at winning a World Series with the group that basically was acquired by John Hart. Their experience and desire may be enough to knock the Twins out. As for the Cubs, the NL Central is theirs to lose, unless either the Cards or Astros go on a hot streak after the break. The Cubs are the strongest and most experienced of the "Little Champs," and I think they have the best chance of still being there come October. I wouldn't be at all surprised if at least one of the Twins or Phils hangs in there, too, and there is always the wild card if they don't win their division.

5. ICHIRO AND THE ASIAN INFLUX.

Starting with Hideo Nomo in 1995, a number of fine pitchers from Asia have thrived in the US majors: Hideki Irabu, Shiggy Hasegawa, Mac Suzuki, Tomokazu Ohka, Byung-Hyun Kim and last year's sensational new Seattle closer Kazuhiro Sasaki. The cliche in both the US and Japan, Korea and Taiwan, was that Asian pitchers could make it in the US majors, but position players were just not big, strong, or skilled enough to thrive here.

Ichrio Suzuki blew that idea away, with his .350 average, 70 runs, skillful, speedy base running (27 steals) and his stellar defensive work. Yet this was a special player, one who had won 7 batting titles in Japan. If there was somewhere in this world a league above the US majors, Tony Gwynn, let us say, would still probably be able to hit there, just as Ichiro has adapted to US pitchers. He also has adapted to US fans, especially in Seattle, who are experiencing "Ichiro Mania."

However, the man who may really turn things around for Asian position players is Mets outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo. He was a good player in Japan, maybe a John Olerud or Robin Ventura -- a good, steady player, but not a superstar, no future Hall of Famer. Yet he too has thrived, (.281, 5 HRs and 32 RBI in only 196 at bats), indicating that any of the better position players from Japan may be ready for the US.

What does all this mean for the future? 20 years from now will Asians dominate the American game the way Hispanics do now (Hispanics, who took over from blacks, who took over from Italians, who took over from Irish and Germans, etc.)? There is a good chance. There is no shortage of hungry players in the Asia Pacific basin who would love to play in the ultimate baseball league, the US majors. Typically, as an immigrant group, or in the case of African Americans, a group of people who had been here since Jamestown, has become more assimilated in the larger culture and whose middle class status becomes more solid, that group turns elsewhere for well-paying, prestigious jobs. American blacks dominated the game from the '60s to the '80s, with black MVPs, batting and homer champs, and Hall of Famers out of proportion to their percentage of the population. In the last 10 years, however, the percentage of black American major leaguers has dropped from about 20% down to 12 or 13%.

It's a little different with Hispanics. The segment of the population in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela that produces big league ballplayers is typically poor, while the Dominican Republic, is absolutely poverty stricken. The likes of Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, Pedro Martinez would be cane cutters, shoe shine boys or even gangsters if they weren't ballplayers. The Hispanic pipeline is not going to be turned off any time soon; in fact it is likely to grow. And these players will continue to compete with the players from Asia. Of course, the fans of the world are richer for this competition, because with players coming from the Caribbean and Asia as well as the US, the quality of play should continue to improve.

OTHER TOPICS

Likewise there are many veterans who are having their so-called "career years." Many of these guys remind me of one-hit wonders in music; Rich Aurilia, a lifetime .270 hitter has been at .350 all year. He is not likely to have another All Star season like this one; Doug Mientkiewicz of the Twins set the league on fire early on and is having a .300, 100 RBI year; Ryan Dempster, teammate of Penny in Florida has 8 victories. He may go on to be a great one, but I have a feeling this will be his one great year. We will be covering youngsters and veterans who are having surprisingly good years.

I talked a little about Latin players in discussing the influx of the Asians, but there is much more to discuss. Latin players from A-Rod to Delgado, Gonzalez, Ramirez, Alomar and Sosa to name a few are at the top of most offensive categories. We will be creating an all Hispanic all-star team that could probably beat any collection of players you could name.

On the other side of my "Little Champs," there are three other teams who have gone in the opposite direction. These are the Oakland A's, Chicago White Sox and New York Mets, all of whom are below .500 and struggling mightily. A related topic is deals, whether trades or players that teams let go. Several have gone on to have excellent years: the David Wells trade has been a mess, while the Giants could use Ellis Burks, the Tigers would look a lot better with Juan Gonzalez and the A's, although Menechino has worked out, could still use the veteran presence of Randy Velarde, who was hitting over .300 when Texas put him on the DL.

Finally, I may be wrong, but it seems like more very good veterans have quit mid-season than usual. Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken announced their retirements in the traditional way: "Hey folks, I'm going to play out the season and then I'm out of here." But already Ramon Martinez, Pedro's older brother and once the ace of the Dodgers' staff, hung up his spikes after trying for several years to recover from shoulder surgery on his skinny right arm. Wally Joyner didn't have any big league brothers, but he pretty much assured himself of a spot in our "Stars In Their Time Hall of Fame," last year when he got his 2000th hit. It hardly seems like 15 years since he captivated Southern California with "Wally's World" and had some of the best years in Angels' history. And just last week, a guy who could really slug when healthy, John Jaha, decided his tank was out of gas. He was another one who struggled with the injury bug, but when he was right, like in 1996 with the Brewers (..300, 34, 118) and again with Oakland in 1999 (.275, 35, 111), he was a force to be reckoned with. Maybe it's just me getting old myself and my memory is getting fogged up, but I don't remember so many second tier veterans quitting mid-season.

OK, friends, the 2000 season is halfway over, who knows what the other half will bring? Keep coming back to The Diamond Angle website and we'll keep you up to date.